Australia’s formidable cricket squad secured its sixth World Cup title, extending a record, with a convincing six-wicket victory over India.
Despite the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team’s dominant journey to the Cricket World Cup final, they stumbled at the last hurdle. Australia, a formidable opponent, secured their sixth World Cup title by defeating India with a six-wicket margin. The Indian team’s decade-long wait for a major ICC Trophy persisted. Reflecting on the loss, Captain Rohit Sharma conceded, “The result hasn’t favored us. We weren’t up to the mark today. We tried everything, but it wasn’t meant to be. Having 20-30 runs more would have been ideal. KL and Kohli were building a good partnership, and we were aiming for 270-280, but we kept losing wickets.”
With 240 on the board, the focus is on taking wickets, but credit goes to Head and Labuschagne for pushing us out of the game. However, I sense the wicket improved slightly for batting under the lights. I won’t use that as an excuse; we simply didn’t post enough runs. Kudos to those two in the middle for forging an outstanding partnership.
India’s aspirations for a third World Cup title crumbled as they suffered an unexpected collapse, leading to a disheartening six-wicket loss against a resilient Australia. This defeat has cast a somber mood over the cricket-loving nation.
Australia’s triumph secures a historic sixth World Cup title, solidifying their longstanding dominance in the tournament since its inception in 1975.
Despite commendable performances from Rohit Sharma (47 off 31 balls), Virat Kohli (54 off 63), and K L Rahul (66 off 107), India ended up with a below-par total of 240 after being put in to bat.
In a replay of his stellar performance in the WTC final against India in June, Travis Head played a match-winning innings of 137 off 120 balls, steering Australia to victory as they chased down the target in 43 overs.
Despite Australia losing three wickets for 47, Indian hopes were dashed by a formidable 192-run partnership between Head and Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out).
Australia’s emphatic win was propelled by brilliant bowling and fielding, and the evening dew further eased batting on a slow and dry surface.
India, the sole unbeaten team with an impressive 10 consecutive wins leading up to the final, stumbled at the last hurdle. Their most recent world title dates back to 2011, and their last ICC trophy was clinched with the Champions Trophy triumph in 2013.
In the last decade, India’s setbacks in ICC events encompass the defeat in the 2014 World T20 final, the 2016 World T20 semifinal, the 2017 Champions Trophy final, the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal, the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal, and consecutive runner-up finishes in the 2021 and 2023 World Test Championship cycles.
